


Sam and The Summer of 2001

by lilith13



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 15:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3614691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilith13/pseuds/lilith13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sam Winchester reflects on the summer after graduating high school (prior to starting at Stanford). This follows hearing 'Two Beds And A Coffee Machine' by Savage Garden for the first time in many years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sam and The Summer of 2001

Sam still remembers that summer, although he hasn’t thought about it in fifteen years. (He hasn’t thought about Stanford –or Jess- in even longer if he’s being honest.) The last time he thought about the Jayhawks was nine years ago, when they got solidly beaten in the Final Four. And then there’s that song by that band from down under, which he’d also completely forgotten about. 

That is, he’d forgotten about it till they were at that bar in Des Moines (following The Shapeshifter Incident) and it was on the radio. (Thank you, Pandora.) It did not escape Sam’s attention that Dean spent the next three days alternately humming it and bitching about it. Nor did it escape Sam’s attention that the former lead singer bears a striking resemblance to Cas. (Sam can’t quite decide whether by that logic Dean would be the other guy in the band.) And not that anyone is asking, but maybe it speaks to him because of their childhoods. (Their childhood wasn’t a cakewalk, by any means.) 

Another ditch in the road  
You keep moving  
Another stop sign  
You keep moving on  
And the years go by so fast  
Wonder how I ever made it through  
-Savage Garden

And yet if you’d asked Sam where he’d be after high school, he’d never said he’d be here, on this road, with no end in sight to the hunting life. (He also reached this conclusion after checking the high school Facebook group he can’t bring himself to leave, despite having not talked to anyone from his high school class since 2008.) And yet the fact remains that in three months it will be fifteen years since he graduated from high school. 

Sam only wanted to do three things that summer:  
Daydream about Stanford  
Spend three days a week with puppies (puppies!)  
Get out of the Winchester house 

He only got that job because his father made him, and because “Dean got a job, so you have to do the same.” The summer was punctuated by fireworks, literal (around the fourth of July, which fell on a Sunday) and metaphorical. The metaphorical fireworks started in May and went through August; they intensified when Ellen and Jo showed up. Dean and Jo became best friends at first sight, and they seemed to unite in their irritation with and animosity toward John. (Sam soon lost count of how many times Dean pointed out that “mom would never have put up with this crap.”) 

There is of course a long list of things Mary Winchester would never have put up with. Chief among them is John’s vehement insistence on unconditional loyalty to the family and, since hunting is the only life he knows, it is the only life they will know too. (Never mind that Mary was the one whose whole family hunted, or that John’s hunting only picked up after her death.) 

And then there was The Window, that three-week time in June when Dean dared to broach staying with Bobby and going to Lawrence’s technical school and becoming a mechanic for real. (Nevermind that this would have made him more of an expert on cars. John would have none of it.) The house they lived in at the time suffered just as much as Sam’s nerves and ears; it probably still has cracks in the plaster from all the times doors were slammed. 

On the same tension-inducing level as Dean’s wanting to “not spend my whole friggin’ life as a hunter” were the rumors (some of which proved true) about who Dean was sleeping with. Not only was John convinced Dean and Jo were perfect for each other, he refused to support the idea (even when presented with undeniable evidence) that Dean was just as likely to bring home the Prom king as any girl. 

Equally alarming for John were the stacks of cash that appeared through the summer, which Dean claimed to have won in pool. This was contradicted by the fact that the last pool hall in Lawrence hadn’t been open since 1997. (Rumors abounded that Dean had in reality earned it doing questionable things for friends of John’s.) More infuriating than the fact that Dean gave half of this money to Sam –“for Stanford” – was that it proved he could have a life away from Lawrence and, equally importantly, away from John if was ever given a chance. 

There was also the black eye Dean came home with following his admission that Jo was with a girl from his chemistry class (who Dean may or may not have introduced her to) and that if he had his way he’d have a boyfriend by now. This black eye led to Dean living with Bobby for the better part of July and the entirety of August. 

\--

Sam’s not sure he has words for his memories of the summer of 2001. He’d bet a great deal that Dean remembers it more vividly than he ‘d care to admit. (Although perhaps he remembers it less vividly than Purgatory.) He’d comment on the song’s unspoken significance but Dean is going on a nightly average of four hours of sleep for the past two weeks. Sam would prefer to avoid him going off the road or losing control of the car. So he stays silent. Maybe a day will come when that summer, high school, and their father won’t hang over them like a fog. Today, however, is not that day.


End file.
